Exploring Geometric Shapes with Your Fidget Belt

When you're a preschooler, math is all about counting little bears and exploring geometric shapes.  When you have limited reach and grasp, sometimes those little manipulatives try to run away from you.

Here are two math-themed fidget belts, looped around our sweetie's wheelchair tray.  Both of them have spacers which help separate the beads and other objects I gathered from different toy baskets in the classroom.

If the fidget belt slides off the wheelchair, use a small piece of duct tape to temporarily affix a small portion of it under the wheelchair tray.

Connecting loops of the same belt material are used to allow the student to lift the pieces a few inches off the surface of the tray, yet not high enough to accidentally hit himself in the face.  If your student has difficulty with neck extension and frequently falls forward on the wheelchair tray, you'll want to select very soft materials to string on the belt.

 Even the white spacer pieces can be used to practice grasp and bilateral coordination.

Wouldn't it be fun to have several fidget belts, corresponding with familiar preschool stories, community helpers, transportation.....?

The items on this fidget belt can be easily washed, still attached to the belt.

I See Squares

The Standards of Learning tests (SOLs) are upon us and teachers are panicking. All kinds of student concerns that have been nagging teachers during the year are now surfacing and reaching critical mass. As dutiful OTs working in the schools we know that students are only permitted specific accommodations/modifications on the SOLs, and that the student must be using those accommodations throughout the year in order to use them for the testing. If you're like me, you're already thinking about what to do differently next year.

Stick this link in your "To Think About" file for Fall 2010--it might come in real handy if you help middle and high school math teachers who have students who demonstrate difficulty with graphing. The graph paper can be sized according to the student's needs.

http://mathbits.com/MathBits/StudentResources/GraphPaper/GraphPaper.htm

Thanks to Janice Johnson, teacher for students with visual impairments, who gave me this great website.